Fitness, camaraderie part of U.S. seminary life in Rome

Seminarian Michael Carraway from the Diocese of Lake Charles, La., uses a treadmill in the new gym at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. ROBERT DUNCAN | CNS

VATICAN CITY — A seminary is not typically known for its emphasis
on physical activity and fitness, but many seminarians see it as an integral
part of daily life.

Andrew Auer, Joseph Caraway and his cousin, Michael Caraway, are
just a few of the seminarians at the Pontifical North American College in Rome
who find value in sports and physical activity.

Priests need energy to serve their people, so "we need to
have bodies that are prepared for it," said Auer, a seminarian from the
Archdiocese of St. Louis. "We have our gym always available just to stay
healthy to be able to serve, which is really the end goal."

The North American College, which is sponsored by the U.S.
bishops, educates students from the United States and Australia who are
preparing for the priesthood.

There are six seminarians from the Diocese of Arlington studying
at the NAC: Nicholas Schierer, Will Nyce, Edouard Guilloux, Peter McShurley,
Joseph Moschetto and Joseph Townsend.

"The Catholic Church is a real supporter of both body and
soul," said Joseph Caraway, a seminarian from the Diocese of Lake Charles,
La., who did graduate studies in exercise physiology before entering the
seminary. "Sometimes we can get so caught up in focusing on the soul and
our prayer, which is incredibly important, but we also need to take care of our
physical bodies."

The seminary stresses the importance of building a "deeply
unified community," its website says, and one way the students achieve
that is through sports.

With his experience and background in graduate school, Joseph
Caraway has found some very concrete ways to help his brother seminarians,
developing "diet programs and exercise programs to help them become more
physically fit and just learn how to exercise correctly."

Sports and physical activity are not simply fun and games. In
fact, Vatican guidelines for priestly formation stress the importance of
helping seminarians live a healthy life.

"The Gift of the Priestly Vocation," released by the
Congregation for Clergy in December 2016, says that seminarians should dedicate
time to physical exercise and sports to "attain the solid physical,
psycho-affective and social maturity required of a pastor."

Michael Caraway, also a seminarian for Lake Charles, said,
"Being a seminarian, being a priest, we're all about being the best human
being you can be and that's definitely always going to involve the physical
aspect as well, because if we don't take care of ourselves, typically you're
not as happy, as healthy, holy a human being."

Camaraderie and teamwork also are key elements in seminary life
that benefit from the college's sports offerings.

"Sports bring everybody together," said Joseph Caraway.
"I was never much of a soccer player, but you get out on the field and
your brothers are there to help you out. You're struggling, you don't know how
to play, but they're there to teach you and help you grow."

The college has a large turf field, which is home to Ultimate
Frisbee, soccer, football and softball matches. Just beside it sits a
basketball court, which is directly in front of the state-of-the-art gymnasium
inaugurated in the spring.

"It's been a really great resource for guys to come together
as a community and to exercise their bodies and really prepare for the days
ahead," Auer said about the new gym.

Offering the seminarians so many opportunities to play the sports
they grew up with also can help them feel at home as they adjust to student
life in a foreign land.

Events such as the Spaghetti Bowl, which is held every year at
Thanksgiving time, give the men a renewed sense of the familiar after being
thrust into the unfamiliar culture of Rome.

"The Spaghetti Bowl is a long-standing tradition at the
North American College," said Auer. "It's a big culminating event on
Thanksgiving weekend that we do to bring everybody together, especially when
it's the first holiday away from home" for first-year students. "It
can be one of those things to focus on the community here and not so much on
what you're missing at home."

The Spaghetti Bowl is a flag football game between the first-year
men and the rest of the college, and serves to help integrate students into the
daily life of the seminary, Michael Caraway said.

"I got to know so many of my classmates and brothers in the
house so much better because I was out there working with them," training
for the game, he said. "It's just a good, natural way to get to know some
of the guys and build community."

A balanced sports life at the seminary also shows there are
greater values at play, values that go beyond childhood dreams of a professional
all-star career and money.

"You reach a certain age when you're not going pro, and you
realize there's something more than just the game that's being played,"
Auer said. Amateur sports provide "a place where I can go and grow in
friendship and virtue with encouragement and support from my brothers."

Fowler, a student at Villanova University, is an intern
at the CNS Rome bureau.